Newly insured patients are pouring into Colorado’s safety-net health clinics, but in some cases, sparkling new exam space sits empty because there aren’t enough doctors to care for the influx of patients.

The jump in patients who now have Medicaid coverage or other forms of insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act is accelerating provider shortages around the state.

The Metro Community Provider Network (MCPN) this month celebrated its first anniversary at a large new state-of-the-art clinic in Wheat Ridge, the newest of its 22 locations in the Denver area. Plenty of patients would be eager to get care here. There’s good bus service and easy access from Interstate 70.

But the space remains empty.

For over a year, MCPN has been advertising for a geriatrician or an internal medicine doctor to oversee patients. Without one, CEO Dave Myers can’t open the space. So far, the response has been disheartening.

“Not even any nibbles,” Myers said, when asked if anyone has applied. “We have been recruiting like mad. This building is part of a strategy for the entire western suburbs to create capacity and also to create a place where people want to come. This is a place I’d like to come,” he said.

"The Medicaid expansion has been a blast of oxygen for Valley-Wide,” said Gigi Darricades, CEO of Valley-Wide Health Systems, which operates 12 primary care and seven dental clinics throughout southern Colorado. But while patients can get care and Darricades can better pay her bills since more have insurance, she’s still struggling to find providers to care for all the patients.

“We employ 38 providers and are looking for four more,” Darricades said.

Attracting providers to rural Colorado is tough. Luring spouses or partners can be even tougher. And the salaries that providers want are loftier than ever since demand for doctors is so great. And while the problem of too few doctors has long plagued rural Colorado, clinics in the Denver area are struggling now, too.